No Celery Please

So a while back, I stumbled upon the website of a certain Kate Harding (http://kateharding.net/)  – and –  don’t judge what’s up there today as what’s usually there, because it’s usually WAY better than this post about her wedding.

Anywho… This site – Shapely Prose – is part of what is referred to by those in it as “The Fat-o-Sphere” … part of the movement for “Fat acceptance” or what I think of as – “leave me the hell alone and stop telling me I need to meet your ridiculous cultural standards of what it means to be female and beautiful”

It’s unabashedly feminist.

It’s unapologetically fat.

It’s calling out marketers, fashion designers, doctors, media pundits, and all the other people out there who tell us that we have to make ourselves crazy tring to be what they tell us to be, and showing them where they can stick it.

I love it. 

And it’s really gotten me to thinking about how I feel about myself, and why I think I need to obsess over the fact that my own body is kinda floppy here and saggy there, and maybe a little flat in other places where the media tells me things ought to stick further out.

Who am I trying to please when I poke at my belly and wish it was some other shape than what it is?  Me?  Would a flat tummy make me any happier to be me?  Or should I just say… hey.  This is what my stomach looks like.  Yes… I have floppy arms.  Stick it, Cosmo… I refuse your judgement… I refuse your message.

Now – I am not planning on chucking my current level of exercise and food consumption.  While I am truly embracing the notion that people ought to be as fat or thin or tattooed, whatever, as they wanna be… I do feel better at the size I am now, and I think that being able to walk up the stairs without gasping for breath is worth not having burgers and chicken strips on a regular basis… but I am re-examining WHY I am willing to continue to eat salads and turkey and rice cakes and vegetables (and, of course, the occasional giant piece of cake with ice cream).   I want to make sure that I am doing this for myself… and not for some mythical goal of acceptance by a world that, frankly, I really ought not care what it thinks, anyway.

Seeing these sites with these truly beautiful (and, yes, fat) women who like themselves just fine the way they are, thank you… I like it.

Go here and look at these women.  They do not meet the standard definition of beauty. But they clearly do not care. 

(not safe for work iffn someone can see your screen probably)

http://www.leonardnimoyphotography.com/7body.htm  (yes, THAT Leonard Nimoy – he’s a photographer – who knew?)

But here’s one that’s SFW…

Pictures from back where the bird and squirrel feeders sit.

I have, I suspect, one of the easiest jobs on the face of the planet.

I sit in a chair all day, typing away on a computer. I do not have stressful deadlines.  I often do not even have so much to do that I need to “work” the entire 9 hours I am sitting in my chair.  I spend time on blogs, the news, facebook, etc.

In addition to all this, I am ridiculously well paid for what I do, and my bosses adore me and think I am hugely productive and an all around excellent employee.

My company has fantastic benefits. How many places still even HAVE an actual pension plan?

So what do I do with all of the above?

I’ll tell you what… I wish like all hell that I didn’t have to work.  I wish I was wealthy and could spend my days indulging in hobbies and sporting activities, and other fun things.  I wish I did not have to get up in the morning.  I spend each day wondering if it’s 5pm and / or Friday yet.  Sometimes I wish I just had a simple job working at a coffee shop or want to move to montana and live off the land with a herd of goats.

I ought to be ashamed of this (and I am, just a teeny bit).  But still…  Is it so much to ask that I just be handed everything I want without having to actually do anything to get it?  Where’s my giant prize check for a million dollars?

Sigh – I suppose it is.

I’ve read quite a few things this week where someone has done something heinous and they have been described by other people as

“a good person who made a bad decision”.

It got me to thinking… how many times is a “good person” allowed to make a “bad decision” before that person stops being described as “Good” and becomes…

“A selfish jackass who hurts people because he/she doesn’t really care about the consequences until he/she gets caught”

This has no impact on my life at all, and the situations I read / heard about are people far removed from me… so I have no stake in whether they are described as “good” or “bad”

It just got me to pondering, is all.

The SB comes home from California tonight!!!

Hey – anonymous internet news story commenting jerk…

It is none of your business if the people in the news story want to be fat, or have a tattoo, or have children, or not have children, or dye their hair, or pierce their navels.

NONE

OF

YOUR

BUSINESS

And to call them dirty whores for doing what they want with their own lives and their own bodies… well, that’s just jackassery.

Yes.  I know…. never read the comments.

You are rich. 

For the love of all that is good and holy…  if you have to hang yourself to get off, please, PLEASE hire someone to keep a freakin’ eye on you so I do not have to hear about how you died on the news.

I cannot listen to INXS anymore (which is a band I used to like a lot) without thinking – upon hearing the first note of any of their songs – “huh – that guy died whacking off”

Do us all a favor – that is not how we want to remember you.

Air Conditioning at Home = Taking the edge off the heat and lounging about in lovely, mid to upper seventies temperatures no matter how bad it might be outside.

Air Conditioning at Work = Refrigerated Meat Truck

Why should I have to wear a coat INSIDE my office?  in JUNE?

And so I share it with you.

——————————————————————–

Love, exciting and new
Come Aboard. We’re expecting you.
Love, life’s sweetest reward.
Let it flow, it floats back to you.

Love Boat soon will be making another run
The Love Boat promises something for everyone
Set a course for adventure,
Your mind on a new romance.

Love won’t hurt anymore
It’s an open smile on a friendly shore.
Yes LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It’s LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! (hey-ah!)

Love Boat soon will be making another run
The Love Boat promises something for everyone
Set a course for adventure,
Your mind on a new romance.

Love won’t hurt anymore
It’s an open smile on a friendly shore.
It’s LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It’s LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It’s
LOOOOOOOOOOOVE!
It’s the Love Boat-ah! It’s the Love Boat-ah!

So – Played in my first bout on Satrday.

I did a lot of things wrong – but I did manage to do quite a few things right as well.

This is a picture of me and the opposing jammer right after I hit her and right before she hit the floor.

Sweet!